Tuesday, February 24, 2015

26th March 2015 sees the publication of the third and final book in my Forbidden Spaces trilogy: Urban Legends.

A group of story-tellers are disappearing one by one. A young woman is haunted by her past. A serial killer has one target he is desperate to hunt down. Veerle is trying to lie low, to live as 'normal' a life as she possibly can. But when you've thwarted a serial killer, it's hard to do this. Especially when he wants revenge...

Urban Legends sees the return of the terrifying killer who calls himself De Jager - The Hunter. It also has some of the most atmospheric and thrilling locations of the trilogy. Forbidden Spaces has a theme of urban exploration running through it. In Silent Saturday Veerle and her friend Kris explored opulent villas whose expat owners were away. In Demons of Ghent the action moved up to the high points of an ancient city - the towers, battlements and rooftops. Urban Legends takes us to some of the murkiest, most dangerous urbex locations of all, as Veerle is forced to confront a brutal murderer with a personal vendetta against her, and try to uncover the real truth of what she saw on Silent Saturday ten years ago.

To celebrate the publication of Urban Legends, I'll be at Blackwell's Bookshop in Edinburgh on Tuesday 24th March, talking to fellow author Susy McPhee (Husbands and Lies, The Runaway Wife, Back to You) about the inspiration for the book, the challenges and thrills of researching the real-life locations, and why urban legends are so compelling. There will be wine too, to steady our nerves while contemplating some of my scariest settings and most brutal confrontations ever!

All welcome. This event is ticketed, but tickets are FREE.

Tickets are available from the front desk at Blackwell's Bookshop, by emailing events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk or by phoning 0131 622 8218.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

As we're celebrating National Libraries Day this week, I thought it would be fun to ask my Facebook friends and fellow authors: What was the last thing you borrowed from the library? It could be a book (of course), or a DVD or CD. It could be "internet time".

I think there's sometimes a perception that people don't use libraries any more, because of internet access and other resources. I don't agree with that; I blogged earlier today about the way that local libraries have helped me to integrate into the community in every new place I have called home. So I was delighted to hear from so many friends and colleagues that they are actively using libraries, and fascinated to hear what their most recent loans had been.

Here's what they said!

Emma Pass, author (pictured left): Pea's Book of Best Friends by Susie Day, and the DVD of Schindler's List.

K.A. Laity, academic and author: Double Indemnity DVD to show my students next week. From local library, The Black Count by Tom Reiss about Dumas' father and a 2-in-1 pair of Margaret Millar novels. I'd actually started reading The Black Count from Dundee Central Library, but had to leave before I could finish.

Splendibird, blogger and reviewer for Mountains of Instead: Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Not usually a non fiction reader but was up until the wee small hours reading this. Brilliantly compelling.

Savita Kalhan, author: The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price because I wanted to reread it.

Mary Mayfield, blogger: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding - I read it a few months ago so for my Teen this time. The new system at our library allows the librarian to say "You know you've already read this?", as if no one would ever read the same book twice!

Sally Nicholls, author (pictured left): Um ... the last book I borrowed from the library is a bit more revealing than I think I want to be (nothing rude before you all get excited!).
Last books before that were the Complete Works of Saki and The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker.

Kate Kelly, author: Not counting the books I borrow on behalf of my kids - the last thing I borrowed for me was a book all about the development of Radar during WW2, written by one of the Scientists. Echoes of War by Sir Bernard Lovell. I had to get them to order it up from another library for me.

Bryony Pearce, author: I'm always borrowing new YA from my library - they're really great at getting in anything I ask for, so my library has a well stocked YA section now!

Roy Gill, author (pictured left): Four different books on the life and work of Alan Turing - research for something I was writing at the time.

Nikki Sheehan, author: Reality Boy. But I go in there to work as well, and Brighton Library does great coffee!

Alex Campbell, author: Just borrowed - Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill. And was also there researching yesterday for Bk3. Love my library.

Sarah Naughton, author: The Inbetweeners 2 and The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas. Both excellent, but at somewhat differing ends of the intellectual spectrum.

Janet Edwards, author: My last thing at the library was the last readers' circle.

Helen Douglas, author: I've just taken out With Your Crooked Heart by Helen Dunmore and The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd.

Luisa Plaja, author (pictured left): The last book I borrowed was the graphic memoir Fun Home by Alison Bechdel.

Zoe Marriott, author: The last thing I borrowed was The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie. Little though most people realise it, I am a huge whodunnit fiend, and have read (and re-read) everything Christie ever wrote, including all the short stories. But if I actually attempted to *own* AG's vast backlist I'd probably need to move myself of my house to make room for them all. So when I feel the need for Poirot or Marple (or any of her other, lesser known sleuths) I head to the library, because there's not a library in Britain that doesn't have a full shelf of her books.

As for me, my last trip to the library was to consult the huge collection of old copies of the Strathearn Herald for Crieff Remembers, a commemoration of the effects of World War One on the town, scheduled to take place in 1917. Because libraries aren't just about books; it's where our history is.

What's the last thing you borrowed from your local library? I'd love to know!

Libraries offer many things: free access to books and newspapers, advice for readers and researchers, reference collections, internet connection, book events, community focus.

That last one has been very important to me personally. I've had a library card since the 1970s. Since then I've moved about a lot: first to Oxford to study, and later to Germany and Belgium with my young family. In 2011 we moved "back" to the UK, except we didn't move to England, where I was born, we moved to Scotland, which I had visited many times but where I had never lived. Each time we moved, one of the first things I did in the new place was to join the library. Each time, being a member of the local library has been one of the things that has helped me integrate into my new home. This is not a vague "soft benefit" as far as I'm concerned. These local libraries have made my and my children's lives happier and better.

During Book Week Scotland 2014, for which I was also an ambassador, I wrote a love letter to my current local library, Strathearn Community Library. I think it says everything I want to say about why I love libraries, so I'm reposting it here. Please, love your library.

Dear Strathearn Community
Library,

I love you. We’ve known each
other for three years now, so it’s about time I made my feelings clear. I think
you’re the best ever!

I’m much older than you and over
the years I have moved about quite a bit. I’ve lived in England, Germany,
Belgium and now Scotland. Every time we’ve moved, one of the first things I’ve
done when we’ve been settling into the new place is to join the library. I have
a big collection of library cards now, starting with a very old creased cardboard
one with my maiden name on it and running through to the latest one, which is
yours, and has a barcode on it. I never threw any of them away, just kept them,
like old love letters.

When I was a student, I joined
the library to borrow textbooks and something to read when I couldn’t afford to
buy novels. When we were abroad, I joined so that I could practise my new
language skills without investing in a whole new book collection of my own.
When we got to Scotland, I wasn’t a student any more and I didn’t need any
German or Dutch books either, but joining the local library had become a habit
by then. It was a bit like rolling up in a foreign city with all our worldly
goods in a van and registering ourselves with the embassy.

When I first visited you, I
was dazzled. The libraries I’d been using abroad had tiny collections of
English language books; you have thousands. I wanted to take armloads of them
home to read. No, not armloads. Truckloads.

After I’d calmed down a bit,
I began to notice all the other things you have to offer. You have a great
selection of graphic novels, ideal for tempting reluctant readers. You have
lots of non-fiction and science books for kids, perfect for enquiring young
minds, especially those who aren’t into fiction right now. You have internet
access, audio books, magazine subscriptions, DVDs. You have a reading corner
for smaller kids, with bean bags and picture books, and one for grown-ups, with
comfortable chairs, the newspapers, and a coffee machine. Luxury!

The thing I love most about
you, though, is not the modern stuff. It’s the local history section, over in
the back corner. Because I’m new to this part of the world, I don’t have a past
here. I’m finding out about my new home, just as I would ask a new friend all
about their life before we met. You have so much to tell me! Folk stories,
curious little snippets of history, amazing ancedotes of past lives.

One of my favourites is the
tale of John Steedman, the timorous minister of Auchterarder during the
Jacobite rising of 1715, who was too afraid to preach while the Rebel Army were
in the neighbourhood. William Reid, the minister of Dunning, who was made of
sterner stuff, swapped with him, and for several weeks gave the sermon at
Auchterarder armed with a loaded pistol!

I love that story. It makes
eighteenth century Perthshire sound like the Wild West!

I found that tale in a very
old book. Thank you for keeping books like that safe, so that history stays
alive, and we can read about more than just the big national events.

Thank you also for
safeguarding a huge collection of issues of the (then) Crieff Herald, dating back to the mid-1800s. I’m using those to
research World War One at the moment, but I’ve often looked through them before
when trying to find out about other things. You know, I wasn’t born here in
Scotland, but my husband was. When he was a very tiny baby, he lived in Crieff
for a few months because his father was working here as a young doctor. So one
day when I was looking through the old papers, I took a peep in the issue that
came out the week after he was born. And sure enough, there was his birth
announcement! It was funny to see his name there, but wonderful too. It made me
feel as though we belong here just a little bit more.

I guess that’s what I love
most about you. I’ve travelled all over the place, but when I visit you, I
really feel I’m home.